The exit of Eden Hazard from Chelsea to Real Madrid will not affect the London club as new manager, Frank Lampard, says he is hopeful he has the players to cope with the Belgian’s departure.
Lampard who spoke at his unveiling however admitted that it will be near impossible to find a like for like replacement for the forward.
“From the outside – and I wasn’t here at the time – but it seemed like something that was important to Eden personally. I think the club and the fans respected that.
“He left on a very good note as a Chelsea fan and someone who played with him and watched from afar he gave this club such great times individually in his input. We were thankful he was here.
“It’s not one to dwell on. He’s gone. We wish him well. He’s a great player. It’s important now what we do and how we take the club forward.
“You lose a great player of course but then how do you get around that? You work on the team.
“You look around at what you do have and what we have is already a very strong squad and young players at a really good age that have, not just potential, some of them have already shown it in the first team, but have the talent to I won’t say fill Eden Hazard’s boots, he’s very unique, but we have players that in there own way can be huge players.
“Some already are huge players and some that can get even better. ‘Part of my job now will be to get that out of them and develop the great young players we have here,” Lampard said.